Slab molding frame



Sept. 27, 193 E. D. CODDINGTON SLAB MOLDING FRAME Filed Feb. 24, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 gwuentoz I [MM/a p 1938- E. D. coDmNGTbN 2,131,655

SLAB MOLDING FRAME Filed Feb. 24, 1936 Jwuentoc 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 27, 1938 siren STATES PATENT OFFICE SLAB MOLDING FRAlVIE Edwin D. Coddington, Douglaston, Long Island, N. Y., assignor to Reynolds Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application February 24, 1936, Serial No. 65,480 1 Claim. (Cl. 2541) This invention relates to slab molding frames placeable wall of the form cooperates with the of the type suitable for forming composition floor top. and wall slabs, or similar prefabricated struc- The slab molding frame disclosed in the drawtural units. The apparatus of the invention is ings comprises a flat horizontal table I composed especially suited to the manufacture of that type of a pair of channel irons 2 arranged side by side of floor slab in which the plastic material is and having downturned flanges 3. The abutapplied to a base of heavy paper, or similar sheet ting flanges of the channels are welded together material, carrying metallic reinforcing elements as indicated at 4 and this unitary channel aswhich serve to rigidify the finished slab. sembly is supported adjacent its ends upon legs An important object of the invention is to proconstituted of upright angle sections 5 arranged 1o vide a fiat frame or table located at a convenient in pairs upon opposite sides of the table. Each height above the floor level and serving as a form angle section has one of its flanges secured to into which the plastic material composing the the outer flange of the channels 2 while the slabs is deposited and allowed to harden, one other outwardly extending flange of the angle side wall of the form being displaceable clear of provides a flat face for the attachment of the 15 the table to allow the convenient removal of the ends of flat truss pieces 6 extending crosswise hardened slabs. More particularly this object is between the pairs of legs and serving to rigidify accomplished in the preferred form of my inventhe frame. Angle sections 6a extend diagonally tion by mounting the displaceable wall of the downwardly from the sides of the frame and are form for pivotal movement about an axis located connected to the legs 5 to afford additional brac- 20 below the plane of the table and providing maning for the same. ually operable means for quickly swinging this Afflxed to and extending hwi e of and wall away from and below the edge of the table adjacent one lateral edge of the table is a bar I, so that it offers no obstruction to the removal and located at spaced intervals along t e table of the slabs. The displaceable wall is advantageare removable partition bars la, generally similar 25 ously constructed so as to effect a tight fit with -to bars I and having one of their ends snugly the table top and thus produce a clean even edge fitting within no es 16 formed in e n upon the finished slab. tudinal bar I. The bars 1c (in the present case Another object of my invention is to provide being four in number) are located a distance I a slab molding frame especially designed for proapart Corresponding to the length of the 5191108130 30 ducing a plurality of floor slabs in a single moldbe molded, and these bars Ia together with the ing operation, and in which the partition memlongitudinal bar I constitute three side walls of a bers which divide the table into sections are remultiple form d n d o r iv the plastic m movable to permit the expeditious cleaning of terial composing the slabs. The fourth side wall the form between successive molding operations. of the forms comprises a displaceable bar 9 which 5 The invention has as other objects to provide a is mounted so as to normally project over the slab molding frame of simple, sturdy and inexlongi e of the table and P V With pensive construction which occupies the mininotches 1d adapted to receive the adjacent ends mum amount of floor space and which includes of the partition bars la. Bar 9 serves to close no complicated mechanism which is apt to get the form, but can be swung outwardly and below 40 out of order. the level of the table top to open the form and Other objects and advantages will be apparent release the finished slabs. This swinging movefrom the following detailed description of a prement is permitted y the following me hanism: ferred embodiment of the invention, reference Secured to and projecting downwardly from being had to the annexed drawings in which: the bottom of the channels 2 are a plurality of 45 Figure l is a side elevation of a slab molding spaced brackets l0 carrying bearing blocks H for frame incorporating the novel features of the a rotatable shaft 12 extending lengthwise of the invention; table a short distance inwardly from that side Figure 2 is a top plan view of the frame of of the table on which the workman is stationed.

Fig. 1; The ends of the shaft l2 project beyond the ends 5 Figure 3 is an enlarged end elevational view of of the table and upon each end of the shaft is the frame; and mounted a bell crank l3 arranged as shown in Figure 4 is a detail cross-sectional showing of Fig. 3. This bell crank is constituted of a horithe top of the frame on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 zontal arm I30 and an upwardly extending arm and illustrating the manner in which the dis- I3b whichlatter is keyed to the shaft [2. A de- 55 pending rod I4 is swivelly suspended upon the outer end of horizontal arm I30; and attached to the bottom of this rod is a counter weight l5, the arrangement being such that this counterweight tends to swing the arm I311 toward the table.

The outer ends of the two upwardly extending arms I3b' at opposite ends of the table are rigidly connected to the square extended ends of displaceable bar 9 and this bar is designed to normally project a slight distance over the longitudinal edge of the table and to abut against the ends of the partition bars la. Curved arms 8 disposed at suitable positions along the table are keyed to shaft 52 and afiixed to the displaceable bar 9 to afford supplementary support for the latter. A hand lever I! located intermediate the length of the table is keyed to the shaft l2 and has its end projecting from beneath that side of the table upon which the workman is stationed where it may be conveniently grasped to rock shaft l 2 and swing the displaceable bar 9 into the dotted line position indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. For maintaining the form open, a check Ha pivoted upon one of the curved arms 9 may be rocked to engage one of its notched ends with a flange 3 of one of the channels constituting the table top.

In forming. slabs of the type which are designed to be keyed together in their assembly into a floor or wall structure'it is important that the interfitting edges of the slabs shall be clean and even so as to allow of a tight joint between contiguous slabs. As best shown in Fig. 4, the bars 1 and 9 are cut away so as to produce a complementary overlap and undercut respectively upon oppositelongitudinal edges of the slabs, while the partition bars la are of rectangular cross-section to impart a straight edge to the ends of the slabs. In order to insure a tight fit between the displaceable bar 9 and the edge of the table, a rightangular notch I6 is formed along the edge or the table to receive the square forward bottom corner of the bar when the frame is closed thus avoiding the formation of a crack into which the plastic material may seep and produce fins upon the edges of the'slabs.

In the employment of the slab molding frame just described, the sheet material incorporating the reinforcing elements for the slab is cut to provide a series of blanks which are laid upon the bottoms of the divided sections of the multiple unit form defined by the longitudinal bars 1 and 9 and the partition bars 1a. A portion of such a blank F is indicated in Fig. 2 in place within a form. The plastic material composing the slab,

and being usually of a cementitious character, is deposited within the form sections. After being worked so that it fills out the entire area of the form and effects an anchorage with the reinforcing blanks, the material is smoothed off even with the top of the bars. The slabs are then allowed to remain for a suitable period of time and after hardening are removed from the frame by the workman who rocks the lever I! to drop the displaceable bar 9 below the table which allows the slabs to be slipped out of the form and off one side of the table.

Preparatory to molding another series of slabs, the table must be cleaned and this is advantageously accomplished by latching down the lever ll by the check Ila, to hold bar 9 in out-of-theway position and then removing the partition bars la. This allows theloose crumbs of material to be readily swept from the table through the ends and'the open side of the form. After cleaning, the partition bars la are replaced and the lever I1 is unlatched and the bar 9 restored to closed position with the form, whereupon the apparatus is in readiness for another molding operation.

It will: be obvious that various changes may be made in the design and structure of the slab molding frame described above, which is simply exemplary of one embodiment that the invention may assume, without departing from the spirit of my invention. I

I claim:

A slab molding frame comprising a horizontal table composed of a plurality of united channel irons having downturned flanges, vertically disposed angle irons connected to the flanges skirting the edge of the table and providing a support for the table, a plurality of vertical wall sections associated with the top of the table and defining therewith a flat open-top form, one of said wall sections being displaceable with reference to the form, said displaceable wall section being provided with an undercut portion upon its molding face, a rotatable shaft extending lengthwise of and beneath the table intermediate its lateral edges, bell cranks fastened to the shaft, one of the arms of'the bell cranks being connected to the displaceable wall and the other of the arms of the bell crank being weighted, a notch upon one side of the; table adapted to snugly seat a corner of the displaceable wall section, and a crank connected to the shaft for swinging the displaceable wall section away from and below the level of the top of the table.

EDW lIN D. CODDINGTON. 

